Ayub Khan

Muhammad Ayub Khan (14 May 1907-19 April 1974) was President of Pakistan from 27 October 1958 to 25 March 1969, succeeding Iskander Mirza and preceding Yahya Khan. Ayub Khan forced his predecessor into exile in 1958 and reigned as the military ruler of Pakistan until 1969, when a popular uprising in East Pakistan forced him to resign.

Biography
Muhammad Ayub Khan was born in Rehana, North-West Frontier Provinces, Pakistan on 14 May 1907, the son of a Pashtun junior officer in the British Indian Army. He went to study at Aligarh Muslim University, and he joined the army after graduation; Khan spent a couple of years at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst before being commissioned into the British Indian Army in 1928. Khan distinguished himself during World War II, and he was given command of the military forces of Bangladesh in 1948 and became Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 1950. Khan was unable to find enough political support to pass military reforms, and he was further disillusioned with the political process while serving as Defense Minister from 1954 to 1956. He ultimately decided that Pakistan was not ripe for a full, working democracy, so he forced President Iskandar Mirza to declare martial law on 7 October 1958 before becoming Chief Martial Law Administrator. On 27 October 1958, he forced Mirza out of power, becoming Presient. With considerable public support, he wrote a new constitution in 1962, encouraging political activity at the local level through the creation of union councils in the villages, while democracy in national politics was largely abolished. Khan thrived on large amounts of United States aid due to his anti-communism, and the stability which he created for a decade spurred econoomic growt. However, his country's failure to win a war with India in 1965 led to his popularity declining, and he was confronted by demonstrations and an opposition movement led by Zulfikar Bhutto. He was forced to resign in 1969, suffering from personal illness and being convinced by the military to let Yahya Khan assume power. Khan died in Islamabad in 1974 at the age of 66.